1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to the field of ball gloves. In particular, to gloves for use in ball games such as baseball or softball.
2. Description of the Related Art
Baseball is a sport played by both young and old many people in a multitude of countries and under a multitude of conditions. The sport is played from the finally groomed fields of the Major Leagues, to playgrounds, to pickup games on sandlots or fields. Baseball players need to have a variety of different skills to perform well on the diamond. Most players are expected to hit well, as well as to field hit balls, and throw and catch balls accurately to get players out at base. Fielding or otherwise catching a baseball generally involves an understanding of, and the effective use of, a ball glove.
The first step of catching a ball with a ball glove is to understand how a ball is caught with the bare hands. When the ball comes in contact with the palm of the hand, some of its energy is stored by compression of the ball or in the structures of the palm of the hand. If the hand is held rigid when the ball hits, this stored energy will be reconverted into motion of the ball away from the hand and the ball will bounce off the hand. This is similar to the dynamics used for batting the ball as the bat and ball both compress to store energy (from both the ball""s motion and the bat""s swing) which is then reconverted into the ball""s motion after the ball is struck. In fielding, however, the hand is not held rigid, but instead when the ball hits the hand, the hand is moved with the ball to dissipate some of the ball""s force through the muscle action of the arm and associated structures. Further, the fingers are closed about the ball after it impacts in the palm of the hand to assist in securing the ball. Through these mechanisms, the ball""s force is dissipated, and when the ball starts to rebound, the fingers cage the ball in the hand and friction and/or surface tension prevents the ball from moving forward, keeping the ball in the hand.
Catching a thrown ball bare-handed can often hurt or sting the hand because of minor damage caused to the structures of the hand that absorb some of the force of the ball. However, in baseball the ball, particularly when batted, can travel with tremendous energy and hit with a large amount of force, it is therefore undesirable to regularly catch batted balls with the bare hands as significant damage can be caused by the ball. The ball glove is therefore designed to be an extension of the hand which protects the hand from the force of the ball by using the unfeeling structures of the glove to absorb some of the force. Further, the glove provides for a larger area upon which the ball can be caught improving the probability of being able to catch it at all. The glove is also designed to be less elastic than the hand to absorb additional force from the ball upon impact. When using a glove, a similar type of motion is used as when a ball is caught barehanded. A baseball glove generally has a web suspended between the thumb and index finger (an area called the crotch) which is designed to be impacted by the ball and absorb the impact of the ball through the inelastic collision of the web with the ball as well as by the motion of the muscles in the arm and wrist as the glove is pushed (using a lever action) by the ball and pivots at the edge of the palm and the player moves their hand and arm in the catch. This type of impact allows for a significant amount of the ball""s force of motion to be dissipated (essentially used up by conversion into other forms of energy such as heat, resistance and other motion). The glove is then generally closed on the ball after impact to prevent the ball from popping out (or rolling out under the force of gravity) from the force that gets returned to it by the impact.
The difficulty of fielding lies in getting accustomed to using the glove. In bare hand catching, nerves in the palm of one""s hand trigger when the ball has hit the palm and the hand should be closed, something that most people can do almost intuitively. The glove, however, is not a part of the body and it must be learned when to close the glove after the ball hits in the crotch to prevent the ball from bouncing off the glove and turning a catch into a dropped ball. This is particularly true because the ball hits in an area of the glove that is designed to not transmit as much force to the hand (as it is not in direct contact with the palm), therefore there are not the same nerve cues to close the hand when the ball hits.
Further, the glove is also fairly rigid when built. Gloves are regularly constructed of leather and need to be xe2x80x9cbroken-inxe2x80x9d before they can be used to their full potential. Breaking-in a glove requires the leather to be softened and broken down through repeated use so that the hand does not need to provide as much force to close the glove as it does when the leather is new. During this breaking-in time, while the glove is new, more force is required to close the glove and the fingers generally take a longer time to close on the ball. This results in a two-fold problem for younger or more inexperienced players. Generally, these players will have newer equipment as they will not have had time to break-in their equipment yet and do not have the facilities to have others break it in for them. Further, since these players are generally newer to the game (and often generally younger), the players may not have the hand strength of an experienced adult player, meaning it is even harder for them to close a newer glove.
Understanding when to close the glove is also a learned skill, and even Major League professional ball players still do not always get their glove closed in time and occasionally drop a ball they should have caught. The time the ball is against the web is minimal, usually just a fraction of a second. The more stored energy that can be translated by the ball into motion, also contributes to the ball""s likelihood of leaving the glove. A baseball is designed to lose a large amount of energy in the collision with the glove (an inelastic collision as compared to the collision between two billiard balls, for instance, which is designed to transmit energy very effectively in a highly elastic collision) meaning that when the ball hits the glove it is likely to only leave with a fraction of the energy it arrived with, but the ball is likely to arrive with a tremendous initial energy. For this reason, the ball glove is also generally designed to have a partially recessed or xe2x80x9ccuppedxe2x80x9d shape so a ball with insufficient energy to clear the xe2x80x9ccupxe2x80x9d or recess cannot escape. This shape is often referred to as the pocket of the glove. Therefore, a light toss can often be caught in the glove without even closing the fingers as there is insufficient energy to allow the ball to escape from the pocket of the glove upon rebound as the structures of the glove absorb sufficient energy to eliminate the need for closing the fingers.
Because of these dynamics, the ability to catch a ball is improved if the time the ball is in the glove is increased, if the glove absorbs more of the energy of the ball upon impact, and/or if the distance the ball has to travel to leave the pocket of the glove is increased. The last of these is generally not allowed by the regulations governing professional baseball play, but the first two are generally unregulated. Further, changes may be of particular benefit to young and/or inexperienced players as these players have not yet mastered the timing for catching the ball, even if a glove is not licensed for professional play. A younger, non-professional player may be able to learn skills from a modified glove, which they can translate to a traditional glove for competitive play or as their experience grows.
Because of these and other previously unknown problems in the art, disclosed herein is a ball glove for use in games such as baseball and softball wherein the webbing of the glove is suspended in the crotch of the glove through the use of at least one energy absorbing connector. The energy absorbing connector being capable of absorbing more energy from an impacting ball than a traditional rigid connector can absorb. The energy absorbing connector may absorb energy through a plurality of mechanisms whether mechanical, electrical, chemical or others. In particular, an energy absorbing connector which dissipates energy through resisted motion is discussed.
In an embodiment, there is disclosed a ball glove comprising: a hand portion including a thumb stall, an index finger stall, and a crotch between the thumb stall and the index finger stall; a pin attached to the hand portion; a webbing; and a pin harness attached to the webbing, the pin harness slideably engaging the pin and positioned so as to suspend the webbing in the crotch.
In an embodiment, the pin harness allows for generally linear movement of the pin within a slot and/or the pin also slideably engages at least one pin resistance portion. The at least one pin resistance portion may be arranged so as to have a xe2x80x9cVxe2x80x9d shape.
In an embodiment, there may be slideable interaction between the pin and the pin harness requires a predetermined amount of force to accomplish which in turn may be generated by a baseball impacting said webbing and/or the force from the baseball may be converted into force to accomplish said slideable interaction.
In another embodiment, disclosed herein is a ball glove comprising: a hand portion including a thumb stall, an index finger stall, and a crotch between the thumb stall and the index finger stall; a webbing; and an energy absorbing connector suspending the webbing in the crotch of the hand portion wherein when a ball is caught in the ball glove, the webbing moves to a new physical position and the energy absorbing connector expends energy through the movement.
In yet another embodiment, the energy absorbing connector expends energy by forcing a pin through a material and/or the webbing may be separated or separable from said hand portion.
In yet another embodiment, the energy absorbing connector includes a strap, which can either aid in suspending said webbing in said crotch, or aid in removing said webbing from said crotch and/or the energy absorbing connector may include at least one resistance portion which may be removable without damage to said energy absorbing connector.
In a still further embodiment, disclosed herein is a ball glove comprising: a hand portion including a thumb stall, an index finger stall, and a crotch between the thumb stall and the index finger stall; a webbing; and connector means for suspending or supporting the webbing in the crotch of the hand portion such that when a ball is caught in the ball glove the connector means converts kinetic energy imparted by the ball into energy of a different form which is then not converted back into kinetic energy reimparted to the ball.